episode_0005

The morning after accepting the king’s request to treat his daughter’s anorexia. Princess Elizabeth’s bedroom.

I offered her a carefully cooked breakfast.

“It’s breakfast. It’s a dish called Eggs Benedict.”

“Tsk. Even though he is a hero, he does useless things. I can’t eat much anyway, just about anything… .”

“Don’t do that, just take a bite. It’s such a pretty dish, isn’t it?”

-Swipe.

“It’s definitely pretty, but… .”

The breakfast menu is, in my opinion, the best brunch, Spinach Egg Benedict.

The savory golden hollandaise sauce wrapped around the soft-boiled poached egg was a beautiful dish, as if it were covered in gold.

It’s my bias, but it’s a dish that women would like.

But the princess didn’t look very reluctant.

“… It looks greasy. I feel like I’m going to throw up while eating.”

“Just one bite for the sake of His Majesty the King.”

“… … Phew. I can’t refuse a handsome man’s request. okay. I’ll just take one bite.”

“Yes. You can break the egg first, then soak the yolk in the bread before eating.”

The princess looked down at her plate with a sullen expression, and only after I spoke to the king did she move her hand.

She picked up a fork and a knife among the many unnecessary types of cutlery, and then slowly cut the Benedict into pieces.

Even for someone who doesn’t know much about etiquette, it was a move that gave me a sense of elegance.

‘It must be difficult to eat while keeping all of those things in mind. ‘Pity me.’

-Sigh.

“… Oh.”

‘Hehe. Still, the response is good.’

A poached egg oozing a brilliant golden yolk as the knife passes over its body.

​

The princess let out an unconscious exclamation at that beautiful sight.

It was a good sign.

-Clap and clap. Deep.

With a mesmerized face, the princess cut up well-baked bread, soft spinach, crispy bacon, and soft poached eggs and ate them with a fork.

Only after dousing it with homemade hollandaise sauce with plenty of savory butter and yolk did she bring the fork to her mouth.

It was a ‘bite’ that was a little bigger than I expected.

-Oops.

‘indeed… .’

The princess pushed the food into her mouth and began to chew it slowly.

It must have been better than she imagined, and a glimpse of something caught her eye for just a moment.

– Mumbling.

“… … .”

‘Oh, there’s less rejection than I thought? ‘Maybe this will work out easily?’

I heard she had severe anorexia, but this princess eats better than expected.

At that moment, I thought, ‘Don’t you just eat everything because it’s delicious?’ I had expectations, but… …

Unfortunately, she put down her fork and knife as soon as she swallowed the food in her mouth.

– Rattling.

“It’s delicious. I enjoyed it.”

“If you like it, just eat a little more… .”

“That’s it. Even now, I force myself to swallow it.”

“… yes. See you again for lunch. Princess.”

More than 90% of the eggs Benedict I worked hard to make remained intact.

* * * * * *

I left the princess’s room holding an almost intact plate.

A woman who had been waiting in front of the door spoke to me as soon as she saw me.

“Angel! How was it… Umm.”

“It’s as you see. Sir Arthur.”

“You couldn’t even finish the food that looked so delicious and left it behind… .”

She lowered her eyebrows in disappointment when she saw the plate in my hand. She was the one-armed female knight who was the star of my arm regeneration show yesterday. Arthur.

She said this morning, ‘I will offer my sword to the angel! After shouting, ‘Please accept it!!’, he continued to follow me around.

“It’s a shame that even the angel’s miracle can’t reach you.”

‘… Now that I’ve heard it, what about this guy who looks like Injeolmi and bean rice cake? Even if you tell me not to call you an angel, you keep doing it.’

No matter how much I told him not to do it, the fact that he steadfastly called me an angel was a bonus.

And yet, Arthur has a truly sad look on his face.

She, a pretty puppy-like girl, looked very sad as she cried.

“… … .”

‘Ugh. ‘I endure it because it’s pretty.’

I was cursing in my head, saying things like injeolmi and bean rice cake, but I felt weak when I saw Arthur’s distorted expression.

I decided to give her some hopeful news that would make her face light up.

“Still, you ate more than I expected. Hehehe. It’s a good start.”

“… Is that so?”

“Yes! Princess, even though you left it behind, you said that my cooking was delicious. It’s a good thing because it means you can enjoy every bite.”

“Hoo.”

I was worried that she might vomit after eating because I heard she was anorexic to the point of causing a heart attack, but surprisingly, she ate every bite without any objection.

Even yesterday, I heard from the King that she was not intentionally refusing to eat, but was just not able to eat much.

I somehow force myself to eat one bite, but I really can’t eat the second bite. It was completely impossible to eat outside of normal meal times, so it was impossible to feed the baby multiple times.

——Considering all this, it was reasonable to think that the princess’s anorexia started to subside after the second bite.

It’s not a menu of food, but only one bite for the entire meal.

The restrictions are so terrible that it feels natural to suffer from malnutrition.

but…

If I had decent cooking skills, just one bite was enough.

“If you can only eat one bite, all you have to do is keep cooking the best bite. Food so delicious that you’ll want to have the next bite someday.”

“… … An angel is an angel after all. How can you be so masculine?”

‘I’m going to do an Indian-style rain offering by feeding people until they’re gone, but why is the reaction like that?’

After organizing his thoughts and revealing the quest strategy, Arthur’s expression was filled with emotion.

… Even before eating the hot dog, he had a blank expression, but was the character actually so expressive? Looks like a human golden retriever.

“Don’t call me an angel? Anyway, I’m going back to the kitchen to prepare lunch. Sir Arthur, go do your business.”

“My job is to protect the angel! We even received permission from His Majesty the King! Order anything!”

“You’re not listening to me… ?”

Afterwards, I left the inner palace with her following me closely.

The clue to solving the quest had already been found.

* * * * * *

After that, I lived happily but busy every day.

Cooking skills were a skill that was more fun to experiment with than one could imagine.

​

and… My main test partner was, of course, the princess.

“I ate well today too. To be honest, I thought it was nonsense, but he is a hero after all.”

‘Look at how your complexion has improved. It’s definitely effective.’

Although only four days had passed since the day she accepted the quest, she was no longer in a state of ‘malnutrition’.

This was entirely thanks to my cooking skills.

… How was malnutrition resolved so quickly when we only ate one bite at a time?

[Additional effect: Fairy’s Blessing (Legendary, Unique) – This is a blessing bestowed on travelers’ food by great fairies… ! Even a small loaf of bread is nutritious enough to last a day!]

I didn’t know much either, but I found something like this in the endless cooking skill description window.

It was a skill that seemed like a parody of a legendary ring movie, but the effect was outstanding.

The missing nutrients are filled with the fairy’s blessing, and the body that is suffering from nutritional deficiency and cannot adapt to the sudden influx of nutrients is restored with ‘overheal’.

Just by repeating these two routines, the emaciated princess had already returned to being a slightly thinner person.

‘where… Would you like to check the status? View.’

-Tiring!

[Elizabeth von Hohenstein’s current status: [Anorexia] [Depression]]

‘Oh, not only malnutrition, but also lethargy has disappeared?!’

I even briefly glanced at the status window and saw that even her lethargy had disappeared.

The sight, which seemed to symbolize the saying that a healthy mind resides in a healthy body, made me smile.

​

“But strangely, I feel like I’ve gotten stronger… … .”

“Isn’t it because of my mood? Hehehe.”

[Additional effect: Jupiter’s Blessing (Myth, Unique) – The blessing of Jupiter, the god of the sky. While the blessing lasts, the absolute value of all abilities increases by 2 without conditions.]

‘This is definitely effective too.’

She even consumed my buff dish for the first time today.

This buff is a morale buff that unconditionally increases all abilities by a whopping 2 in a game where the maximum status is 10.

​

With such a buff applied to her, her physical condition was the best it had ever been.

Unlike in the past when he was so sick that he was confined to the inner palace without knowing when he would collapse, now he won’t even bother to move around a little.

‘As long as the anorexia is the same, if I leave, it will soon return to its original state.’

“Anyway, princess. Then shall we go?”

However, since I still have a long way to go before completing the quest, I decided not to worry and to do my best until the end.

​

Afterwards, I held out my hand towards her.

The reason for giving me this buff today was to go to an ‘event’ to be held at the royal family.

and—

“Okay. Let’s go.”

-Help.

The princess suddenly wrapped her hands around my waist and held me close.

Despite the age of twenty-five, my chest was pressed against my shoulder, which was a bit meager but still sufficiently thin.

At that feeling, I forgot to keep the concept and made a stupid sound.

“… Hmm!!?”

“… … … A warrior?”

‘Hey, why is he like this!? ‘The concept almost broke at that moment!!’

Unlike me, the princess looks at me with an expression that says nothing is wrong.

I said, trying desperately to keep my mask on.

“Hey, that, that… I’m sorry, but my heart is touching… ?”

“Ah… Phew. What else can I say? Hero, you are not perfect either. You can’t help but blush as much as a woman’s breasts.”

“No, that’s it… .”

“Just wait until the throne room. This is how it should be when royal family escorts someone.”

I tried to tell her that my heart was touching her, but she thought it was nothing and started walking.

Strength stat 6.5. No, I couldn’t resist and was dragged helplessly by the ‘escort’, who was even buffed and had 8.5 strength.

I felt the soft, soft touch over my shoulder for the first time in my life.

​

​

‘Why do women act as escorts?’, ‘You should be ashamed, why are you opposing it?’ I didn’t even have time to think about things like, ‘Isn’t this the case where men and women are reversed?’

———And then, after a while.

By the time I stood in front of the throne room, my face was so red that it couldn’t get any hotter.

‘An appropriate amount of water, three tablespoons of sugar, 1.5 kilos of beef ribs for steaming, seven tablespoons of soy sauce, cooking wine… … .’

It was only 10 minutes before the ‘Descent Ceremony of the Divine Beast’, which would have a great impact on future adventures.